Literally millions of people suffer from back and spinal problems. Much effort and money has been expended in treating and trying to prevent ailments and discomfort of this type, with varying degrees of success. In addition to the discomfort, chronic back ailments cause a great deal of absenteeism from work. Further, many people ultimately require surgery to gain some relief, and some people become permanently incapacitated. In addition to the expense for the treatment of back ailments, there is also the enormous economic loss from people unable to work, as a result of back ailments. Accordingly, a great need exists for any practical improvements in this area.
One commonly employed technique for providing some improvement to spinal problems is to position a rolled towel under a person's neck so that the weight of the head is supported by the neck and so that some traction or elongating or stretching force is applied to the person's spine. This treatment applied for a limited period of time appears to provide relief for some people by relieving the normal vertical load that is applied to a patient's spine while standing or sitting. Related to this, it is understood that the ancient Chinese have used bamboo logs for this purpose. These approaches have their shortcomings and improvements are needed.